This article details the writer’s personal experience with and opinions about Covid-19. She is not a healthcare provider. Neither the writer or publisher, nor any other representatives will be liable for damages arising out of or in connection with the use of this article. This is a comprehensive limitation of liability that applies to all damages of any kind, including (without limitation) compensatory; direct, indirect or consequential damages; loss of data, income or profit; loss of or damage to property and claims of third parties. You understand that this article is not intended as a substitute for consultation with a licensed healthcare practitioner, such as your physician.

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As I explained back in June, I was down with a pretty bad virus. We suspected it was Covid-19 because it had some really weird symptoms. The antibody test came back this week. POSITIVE.

It started one afternoon with a tickle in my throat. I thought it was allergies. I’ve had allergy throat tickles my entire life. Had I known it was not allergies, I’d have started sucking on Cold-Eeze that very minute, which I stocked up on when all this mess started. That brand of Zinc lozenges sold out during the beginning of the Pandemic. It’s once again available.

“Hospitalized COVID-19 patients taking supplemental zinc in addition to standard therapy were reported to have lower death rates, and patients with lower zinc levels on admission had higher mortality. We recently reported that four outpatient COVID-19 patients taking high dose oral zinc appear to recover shortly after initiation of zinc.” – Journal of Medical Virology

That evening, I was feeling kinda yucky but I still didn’t have a fever so I kept thinking it was just a really bad allergy episode.

The next morning, I had a fever and mild chills. UH OH!!! I still didn’t feel too bad. Just the regular fever lethargy. I also had a mild cough. I was immediately quarantined in the bedroom. That had its perks. I didn’t have to do dishes or laundry!

I admit I was anxious that it might be Covid but, since I was already down for the count, there really wasn’t anything I could do other than follow the protocol we always do when we’re sick (see below), along with some additions we added once Covid hit the news. I just had to stay in bed, and ride out the storm.

SYMPTOMS

• After the initial “throat tickle,” I ran a fever that hovered around 101 for three days. It went away after day three, and came back on day seven, but only for one day. I feared it was a secondary infection (I admit I freaked out when the fever returned) but it turns out I was simply overdoing it. I wanted to be outside in the sunshine tending to my plants!! I should have stayed in bed for several more days instead.
• I was EXTREMELY tired. I’ve never previously experienced that level of fatigue in my life. I pretty much slept for three days straight. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I have almost no memory of those three days. Weird!
• On day four, I had some energy and my fever was gone so I did some gardening. That was a mistake, as I noted above. After I overdid it, I was very “weak” for several days.
• I had zero appetite. Over the course of two weeks, I lost 10 lbs. I started to suspect the weakness I was feeling was from being malnourished so I forced myself to eat three meals a day. That did seem to help.
• While I didn’t want food, I was craving orange juice. I drank a TON of it.
• I had really horrible diarrhea from day two through day five. That was my body trying to flush out the virus. I did NOT take meds to control it. I knew my body was doing what it was designed to do. I just made sure I stayed hydrated with lots and lots of water.
• I had horrible back cramps – like charley horses up and down both sides of my back. They would tighten up. I’d have to stretch different ways. They would go away, and then come back again. That was the most bizarre symptom, and very uncomfortable. Those took about two weeks to subside.
• Off and on for two days, I occasionally felt shortness of breath. I could inhale just fine. I just felt like I wasn’t getting enough air in when I did. When that happened, I made myself relax, and think about something else (Netflix was perfect for that!) and it passed each time.
• I coughed like crazy after day one. It was annoying but I coughed far more when I was awake than when I was asleep so I was still able to get enough rest. When the pandemic started, I bought two institutional sized bags of Halls honey and lemon cough drops. I was sucking on those almost constantly for a month. Yes, I coughed for an entire month. And, yes, I know the package says to only take one every two hours. I broke the rules. I survived.
• After the first few days, my nose started running. That was another way my body was flushing out the virus. I did not take medicine to dry that up. I wanted it OUT of me. I went through several boxes of tissues, which was another thing I’d stocked up on when the pandemic started.
• Three and a half weeks in, I was in the shower, and had a coughing spell so bad that I saw stars. The next morning, my ribs hurt VERY badly in the front and back on my left side. The pain was severe, and getting worse each time I coughed so I eventually went to Urgent Care to rule out a broken rib. I was diagnosed with Intercostal Muscle Strain. That started to get better when the coughing spells subsided but I still have little twinges of pain there once or twice a day. The recovery from that type of injury takes four to six weeks. The chest x-ray ruled out pneumonia. My lungs were completely clear.

TYPICAL COVID SYMPTOMS I DID NOT HAVE

• I never lost my sense of taste or smell.
• I never had nausea or vomiting.
• I never had pain or pressure in my chest.
• I never had “confusion.”
• I never had blue skin, lips, nail beds, etc. Yes, I checked when I was having shortness of breath.

WHAT I BOUGHT WHEN THE PANDEMIC HIT

When the pandemic first hit the news, I loaded up on EZC Paks, Vitamin C (1,000 mg tablets), Vitamin D (5,000 iu capsules), multivitamins, Cold-Eeze, other zinc lozenges, cough drops, and Mucinex Fast-Max. I am SO glad I did!

WHAT I TOOK TO GET BETTER

• EZC Paks – exactly according to the instructions on the label
• 1,000 mg’s of Vitamin C twice daily (morning and night)
• 5,000 iu’s of Vitamin D twice daily (morning and night)
• 1 Multivitamin at night
• Cold-Eeze on days two through five. I should have started that when I felt the first tickle in my throat.
• Mucinex Fast-Max (only after the fever broke) because I had a horrible dry cough. I wanted to get all the guck out of me. A vaporizer helped with that, too.
• As I wrote above, I drank lots of orange juice and I also drank tons of decaf hot tea and water to flush the virus out of my system.

WHAT I DID NOT TAKE

Fever reducers. Remember all the public service announcements telling people to treat their Covid-19 fevers with ibuprofen or acetaminophen? That was VERY BAD ADVICE! While a fever reducer may make you feel better in the short-term, you will be sick for longer (or may have worse complications) if you stifle your body’s first mode of defense against invaders (a fever!!). Don’t believe that a fever can really help cure Covid? Read this:

“Although fever is one of the main presenting symptoms of COVID-19 infection, little public attention has been given to fever as an evolved defense. Fever, the regulated increase in the body temperature, is part of the evolved systemic reaction to infection known as the acute phase response. The heat of fever augments the performance of immune cells, induces stress on pathogens and infected cells directly, and combines with other stressors to provide a nonspecific immune defense. Observational trials in humans suggest a survival benefit from fever, and randomized trials published before COVID-19 do not support fever reduction in patients with infection. Like public health measures that seem burdensome and excessive, fevers involve costly trade-offs but they can prevent infection from getting out of control.” – Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health – Volume 9, Issue 1, 2021

Yeah, fevers suck big-time but it’s worth is in the end if you’re not sick as long, and if you don’t end up in the hospital…or dead!

Our doctor in Maine told us you should never take a fever reducer unless your fever hits 103. We’ve followed that advice through bouts with the flu and other bugs over the years and it works. I knew those Covid-19 public service announcements about taking fever reducers were total B.S. But, God help you if you post anything on social media that goes against the standard protocol being blasted out by the CDC.

The vitamin regimen above has worked for us for years as well. Now, medical professionals have begun spreading the word that high doses of Vitamin C and Vitamin D can help with Covid-19. Click on those links for proof.

WHY DIDN’T I GET TESTED AND/OR GO TO THE DOCTOR?

• To be completely honest with you, I was too sick the first three days to do anything other than go from the bed to the bathroom and back. After the first three days, I knew I was going to survive. I didn’t need a doctor, and getting tested would have forced me to go out into the community, and potentially spread the virus to someone else.
• I was terrified of being put on a ventilator. I’d rather die in my own bed than get tortured to death in that manner.
• I’m a Christian and I prayed. A LOT. If it was my time to go, I’d already be gone. It clearly was NOT. 🙂

DID I REMAIN QUARANTINED?

Yes. I did not leave the house for a month just to be safe. When we ordered food or other items, we told the delivery people to stay far away, and to leave the items on the sidewalk, several feet from the front door. Members of our church offered to bring dinners to us but we declined because 1. we already had plenty and 2. we didn’t want to put any of them at risk.

DO I HAVE CO-MORBIDITIES? 

Yes but I’m not going to share that information here because, quite frankly, it’s nobody’s business. I don’t mind sharing my age. I’m 54.

Today, I’m fit as a fiddle. I have tons of energy and my appetite is back in full-force. I just now finished wolfing down some stuffed crust supreme pizza. Yum!

One positive from having Covid-19 was that it cured my BPPV. I’ve had it about 4 times in the past 15 years or so and I had it pretty bad this time until I got Covid. It abruptly disappeared when I was sick and it hasn’t come back.

Here’s a very important lesson I learned throughout all of this. I know this has not been true for many people but, for me, my FEAR of Covid-19 over the past year and a half was FAR worse than the illness itself.

RELATED

• Down With a BAD Flu
• Blew Out My Ribs Coughing…
• I Had a Cold. It was NOT Covid.
• My Secret for Finding High-Demand Products During a Pandemic
• Dining Out During a Pandemic and Protests

Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.

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